The prime minister is pausing his plan to overhaul the judiciary following mass protests.
Mass protests broke out in Israel Sunday night after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister for opposing his months-long plan to overhaul the judiciary. Monday, he agreed to postpone — but not abandon — the change.
Though the plan is widely unpopular and has driven months of protests, tensions peaked in the lead-up to an initial vote on the overhaul plan that was slated for Wednesday, but will now take place after Parliament resumes session next month. As a condition for agreeing to the delay, National Security Minister Itmar Ben Gvir required that he be allowed to preside over a new national guard to combat crime.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated Sunday across Israeli cities, with police in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem using water cannons to disperse protesters who blocked highways and lit bonfires. Thousands showed up outside Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem, where they broke through a police barricade.
Workers across industries have also staged walkouts initiated by Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union federation. The public sector, health care, the central bank, the stock exchange, transportation, universities, museums, shopping malls, and even McDonald’s have all been affected. Airports were halted briefly but resumed on Monday.
The overhaul plan would give the legislature almost unchecked control over judicial appointments and limit judicial review of governmental policies and laws. Netanyahu, who is facing corruption charges that put him at the mercy of the courts, has argued that the reforms would provide a much-needed check on what he perceives is an out-of-control liberal judiciary. His critics maintain the changes are an effort to keep power and to bring the independent judiciary under the control of Netanyahu’s right-wing government.
Israel’s allies have expressed concern about moving forward with the overhaul plan, which they have indicated threatens the underpinnings of Israel’s democracy.
